One of the primary functions of personal care absorbent articles is to retain and absorb body exudates such as urine, fecal material, blood, and menses. Along these lines, a desired attribute of personal care absorbent articles is to minimize the leakage of such exudates from the absorbent article. To assist in achieving this function, absorbent articles can include leg containment flaps in the crotch region of the absorbent article. These containment flaps can be designed to provide a gasket, or seal, against a wearer's skin to prevent leakage of the exudates from the absorbent article, as well as to contain the exudates in a specific area of the absorbent article such that the exudates can be properly distributed, further contained, and/or absorbed by various components of the absorbent article.
Various configurations of containment flaps and methods of forming containment flaps are known. For example, one common configuration is to have a containment flap on each side of the longitudinal axis of the absorbent article by providing a length of material with one or more elastic strands contained in the material, the length of material extending substantially along the length of the absorbent article. The elastic strand(s) can adhere to the strip of material to gather each containment flap in the crotch region of the absorbent article when the absorbent article is in a relaxed condition such that the material stands up or extends away from the absorbent article. The top edge of each vertical containment flap is configured to contact the wearer's skin along the length of the containment flap to form a seal against exudates.
This configuration of containment flaps has a limited sealing area with the wearer's skin, which is limited to a single line of contact along each containment flap. In some circumstances, this common configuration of containment flaps may not properly “stand-up” vertically from the chassis of the absorbent article after the absorbent article is applied to the user, and thus, not form a continuous seal against the wearer's skin in the crotch region of the absorbent article. Nevertheless, even when these containment flaps are properly applied to the wearer's skin, the single line of contact that each containment flap provides against the wearer's skin may not provide enough gasketing force against the wearer's skin to contain certain forces applied to the containment flap by the body exudates. Thus, in some circumstances, the limited sealing area against the wearer's skin and potential application issues can cause these leg containment flaps to provide less than desired gasketing properties.
While other configurations of containment flaps are known, they still yield drawbacks. As an example, other containment flap systems for absorbent articles provide both an inner, vertical containment flap as well as an outer, vertical containment flap on each side of the absorbent article, increasing raw material usage and cost for the absorbent article, as well as manufacturing complexity for the absorbent article. Additionally, while other configurations have been theorized, many have not been successfully manufactured and implemented into absorbent articles, and thus, contain disadvantages or complexities not initially realized in theory.
Thus, there is a need for an absorbent article having containment flaps which can provide an improved gasket with the wearer's skin. There is a need for an absorbent article having containment flaps which can allow for an increased amount of contact with the wearer's skin, yet reduce irritation with the wearer's skin. There is also a need for a method of producing such containment flaps.